Last Thursday we went to the County Fair. Personally I have never been to a county fair, unless watching Charlotte's Web counts (which I guess it doesn't). I don't believe BigGuy had ever been either. Although once we got there I did recognize all the rides - in fact, I believe those are the same rides that we were riding in high school - the exact same rides, so we veered away from the more daring ones - for safety you know. Now, many of you have probably been to a fair and you know that there are animals. We kinda knew, but still most of us were surprised. The 4H stuff was cool. I saw lots of things that our kids could do and put into a competition (if they so choose to in the future). There were also horses - which made SuperStar continue to think it was plausible that we would buy her a horse that she could ride privately. We continue to tell her this is not going to happen unless she makes it happen by becoming financially independent. Granted - we could win the lottery (if we bought tickets), but we still won't be buying a horse. We might get a pool (another dream of theirs and mine), but not a horse. Anyway - they also had chickens. We hadn't realized that there were so many varieties of chickens. We listened for awhile as the announcer discussed the chickens - not as interesting as looking at the chickens.
Then the kids entered an ice cream eating contest. This was fun - and it also showed me that our kids do have more manners then I give them credit for. Each child (there were about 30ish) was given a big scoop of ice cream. Although we were told the portions were equal - clearly they weren't. The older kids figured this out and grabbed smaller portions. My kids saw bigger portions and though, "Yum" and bellied up to those. The announcer (quietest kid there) said "Go" and Spidey immediately began to eat - one small spoonful at a time - SuperStar did too, then looked around at the quickness of others and began going faster - Spidey noticed too and simply picked the bowl up and put it in his face to eat - the big kids ate their one spoon portions in a second - SuperStar saw this and feigned brain freeze (there was not enough ice cream in the dish to cause brain freeze, plus most of it was melted, however, finding a reason to not have won seemed to help her deal). Since Spidey's head was in his bowl he didn't realize it was over and just kept licking. In the end everyone was happy - everyone got a 4H clover pencil - and everyone ate ice cream (how can eating ice cream end badly?).
Oh, this was about how the Carnies got BigGuy's wallet. Well, before going to the fair we told each kid (minus Babers) that they could have $5 to spend. They have been very good lately. BigGuys job provided us with cheap tickets and cheap passes to go on rides without limitations - so it was a cheap date. While there the kids wanted to spend their money on just about everything. Then they saw the games. While there we met up with some friends, the D's. They have two kiddo's, BabyC (remember her? Babers is infatuated with her) and BigJ (who is 4 and smallish, you will need that visual later). We rode all the rides the kids could handle - okay, honestly, we rode all the rides the parents could stand in the heat for - and were ready to leave. SuperStar had broken her shoe (the second that day, the other pair being a favorite one - so she was a bit upset). As we left they spotted one of those Carney games where you shoot the stream of water into the hole and it makes the race figure go up. There was a boy waiting for more players. SuperStar wanted to play, Spidey wanted to play, BigGuy opened the Bank of Dad (as the Carney called it - $2) and BigJ wanted to play. They all lined up, pulled the trigger and the kid who was originally there took the prize. SuperStar looked over at BigGuy and immediately started crying. The Carney woman looked upset and tried to sooth things over. We knew SuperStar was having a hard time due to shoe breaking and ice cream contest loss. Trying to make it better we decided to let them play again ($2). Spidey & SuperStar - figuring that Spidey would lose and take it better then his sister did. He won. He got a cute stuffed dog. She cried harder. The Carney made up a second prize and found a smaller stuffed animal for her - a penguin. She cried harder. I stepped up and played her ($2). Magically she won. The Carney, seeming genuinely happy and relieved took out her choice of two cute stuffed puppies. SuperStar looked at them, turned up her nose, pointed to the giant purple Unicorn and said, "I would rather have that." The Carney didn't love her that much and rehanded her the choice of two cute puppies - which she took. Now all is good and we begin to walk away - only BigJ starts to cry. Both Spidey & SuperStar have cute puppies and he doesn't. So his mom took her position at the game and plays him ($2, but theirs not ours). Magically he wins (with the help of his dad) - he gets a cute stuffed puppy and then turns to his mom and trash talks her about how he won and she lost. Geesh - our kids!! After all this competition we decided to buy $4 sodas and $2 snow cones. And that is how our cheap date became a bit more expensive - oh, plus we had to buy SuperStar new shoes - which meant Spidey got a pair, BigGuy got a pair, I got a pair (Babers had just purchased two new pairs the day before) - then SuperStar wanted another pair because Babers got two new pairs - which meant Spidey wanted a pair - then - well, you understand.
1 comment:
LOL. great story!
Post a Comment